Eric Carl Timaeus has a knack for catching rattlesnakes, says Michael Brick in The New York Times. Armed only with some hooked poles and canvas sacks, Timaeus has won nine consecutive titles for nabbing the longest rattler at the Sweetwater Jaycees Rattlesnake Roundup in West Texas. Unlike many of his competitors, he thinks that spraying gasoline into rattlers’ dens, to flush them out, is unsporting. “It’s like going out with a spotlight and shooting deer at night.” He prefers a more natural approach. “If there’s a snake in a hole and for some reason I don’t catch it,” he says, “I’ll get it next time.” Timaeus, 57, caught his first rattlesnake by hand while growing up in Northern California. He pursued his interest in the reptiles in the Boy Scouts and, later, in the Army, where he taught troops how to avoid serpents in the wild. “I’m not as book smart about the taxonomy as people who pick one critter and get their Ph.D. I was always more interested in the wild part of them—how they live, how to catch them.” Timaeus has a soft spot for snakes, refusing to capture mothers and babies. And he appreciates the species’ beauty. “Sometimes, when the sun hits them just right, they shine.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
'There is a lot riding on the deal for both sides'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Pharaoh's tomb discovered for first time in 100 yearsSpeed Read This is the first burial chamber of a pharaoh unearthed since Tutankhamun in 1922
-
Microsoft unveils quantum computing breakthroughSpeed Read Researchers say this advance could lead to faster and more powerful computers
